Chapter 1104 1195 Prestige

Due to the financial pressure of the imperial court, so far the capital has no plans to supplement the Denglai Navy's large-scale construction of warships.

Although speaking of it, the waters around Shandong and Liaodong that Denglai Navy is responsible for cover the center of the Ming Dynasty and the capital.

In fact, the Denglai Navy was born in advance. If Wei Guangde had not attached great importance to coastal defense, there would only be the Dengzhou Navy Camp at this time, and there would be no Denglai Navy.

The Ming Dynasty has always paid little attention to coastal defense, especially after resuming the implementation of the national policy of maritime transportation and Liao.

Zhang Juzheng was actually well aware of the current situation of the Denglai Navy, but he was unable to intervene. Of course, the important reason was that the court had no money to pay.

"Are these ten gunboats funded by the Ministry of War?"

asked gradually.

"Suffice it to say that the Ministry of Industry and the Nanhai Navy paid a small part of the money from the Ministry of War.

If there is really going to be a northward transfer at that time, just ask the Ministry of War to provide more. After all, these ships were originally built for the Nanhai Navy. "

Wei Guangde doesn't care, it's all money from the imperial court anyway, it just comes from different yamen.

Keeping accounts is very simple.

“I heard before that the Nanhai Navy’s warships were originally ordered by each province in the south of the Yangtze River, so some ship types were quite repetitive, and the Navy did not want so many ships.

I planned to wait for Yu Dayou to come back, crash the warships of the Nanhai Navy, see if there are any extra ones, and transfer them to the Denglai Navy at a discount.

It is said that most of the warships of the Denglai Navy are used by the Shandong Coast Guard, and most of them are old and unusable.

I plan to ask Shandong and Nanzhili to contribute a sum of money at that time to regularly update warships for the Denglai Navy, imitate the style of the South China Sea Navy, and use this as the skeleton to form the North Sea Navy after the army is formed.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty would have two naval forces, one in the south and one in the north, to defend the sea, which meant that it could sit back and relax. "

Wei Guangde smiled.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a moment and nodded. According to Wei Guangde, the focus of coastal defense is obviously still in the south.

Also, there were many vassal states in the Nanhai vassal, and there were also Eastern and Western barbarians involved, so the situation was far more complicated than in the north.

"What I'm most worried about now is the southwest, where transportation is inconvenient. This is why Taizu was unwilling to continue to expand outwards after he occupied Yunnan."

Zhang Juzheng said slightly worriedly.

Just when the two men were talking about the southwest war in the cabinet, the vanguard of the Burmese army had already attacked Baoshan City.

Camps were set up more than ten miles apart, and sentinels were sent out to detect the movements of the Chinese army.

At the top of Baoshan City, Li Chengliang took Mu Changzuo and Luo Rufang to observe the layout of the enemy camp.

This is a mountainous area, so the Burmese army is not too close to the city.

Although the camp was ten miles away, several groups of Burmese troops came out of the military camp and set up small camps along several forks outside Baoshan City. This could not only block traffic from Baoshan City in the north, south, and west directions, but also allow them to stay close to Baoshan City. Monitor the movements of Baoshan City.

The battle for the Lujiang Ferry had been over long ago, and the Ming army could not sustain its resistance for long. In other words, it fell after three rounds of attacks by the Burmese army.

This was after the Burmese army landed on the other side. Li Ruzhang led his cavalry to launch a counterattack and drove the Burmese army back into the water.

However, after the two attacks failed, Mang Yinglong decisively sent additional troops and horses for reinforcements.

In addition to the previous two landings, the Burmese army captured more than ten river boats from the Ming army.

Faced with a situation where the enemy was outnumbered and we were outnumbered, Li Ruzhang decisively ordered to abandon the defense and set fire to the dock when the Burmese army attacked again.

While the Burmese army rushed to the beach to put out the fire, he returned to Baoshan City with the remaining Ming army.

"According to the scout report, it should take another two days for the main force of the Burmese army to arrive at Baoshan City."

Li Chengliang looked at the enemy camp in the distance and said contemptuously.

"It seems that the reckless thieves have not received the news that southern Myanmar is being attacked by our navy."

Luo Rufang said.

Now that he had a general idea of ​​Li Chengliang's plan, although he felt it was a bit risky, his worries were reduced a lot after knowing that the Nanhai Navy had arrived on the southern coast of Myanmar and would soon attack Myanmar from behind.

The Ming army was pulled from the north to the south, and the Burmese army would inevitably focus on one thing at the expense of the other. Even if it was a bit risky, it might have miraculous results.

At least, as far as the current situation is known, as long as they stick to Baoshan City, the Ming army will be in an invincible position.

Yes, the Ming army is still on the defensive at the moment, which is to block the Burmese army's continued eastward advance.

As long as Baoshan City is occupied, the main force of the Burmese army will be blocked in western Yunnan, and their partial division will also be stopped by the Ming army in Shidian City.

Although the Burmese army is powerful, the consumption of an army of two to three hundred thousand in one day is also huge, and they cannot actually afford it.

The only way is to keep advancing troops and plunder supplies from the occupied areas to supplement their consumption.

Once the Ming army blocks the way, the supply of food, grass and baggage will not be available for a long time. The decline in combat power is only one aspect. The most important thing is the loss of morale.

If the army can win one battle after another, its morale will definitely be high, and it can often achieve amazing results.

But if morale is lost, the result may be exactly the opposite, and the battle may be defeated when encountering a weak enemy.

The Ming army has been well prepared during this period. Although it seems to be in a weak position, Li Chengliang is not a conservative person, and he also knows more information, so he has set up a large number of hidden sentries in the west of Baoshan City to monitor the movements of the Burmese army. .

Their main task is to observe the intelligence of the retreat of the Burmese army.

With so many troops in hand, even if Mang Yinglong knew that there was an attack along the coast and that the Ming army was targeting Toungoo City, he would not be able to immediately retreat with an army of 200,000 to 300,000 people and return to Myanmar for rescue.

The biggest possibility is to draw elite troops to support Toungoo City, and the remaining troops will continue to confront the Ming army. At most, they will stop attacking frantically and restrain themselves.

Finally, make a choice based on the actual situation, continue to attack the Ming Dynasty or retreat back to the country to consolidate Mubang and Mengmi occupied in this battle.

"Marshal, now the vanguard of the Burmese army has arrived outside the city. It can be seen that they are short of troops, and our soldiers in the city have been ready for battle. Should we attack them tonight?"

Mu Changzuo had been observing the layout of the enemy camp before. Although the enemy generals were also very cautious and sent troops to station at nearby intersections and set up sentry camps, Mu Changzuo still saw that there were huge loopholes to be exploited.

The overall performance of the Ming army in Yunnan in this battle was unsatisfactory, so he wanted to take the initiative to launch an attack to save some image.

If there were more than 100,000 troops outside the city, he, Mu Changzuo, would naturally not dare to act rashly, but now the enemy troops outside the city seemed to have only 7,000 or 8,000 people.

"Forget it. Although the main force of the Burmese army will arrive in two days, as far as I know, there is another Burmese army 20 to 30 miles away, with a strength of about 10,000 people. There is really no need to attack the camp at this time."

The Burmese army certainly did not divide the army neatly into the front, middle and rear armies. Because there were too many troops, Mang Yinglong simply assigned a few main generals to lead their men and several familiar chieftains to form a group and advance separately along the established route. The distance between them was generally 20 to 30 miles.

In this way, even if they were blocked by the Ming army on the road, reinforcements could arrive in just one day, and they were not afraid of being divided, surrounded and ambushed by the Ming army.

The so-called main force of the Burmese army was actually the one led by the Burmese king Mang Yinglong himself. There were 50,000 to 60,000 people, and most of them were Burmese, which was also the foundation of his career.

The multi-ethnic characteristics of Myanmar are more complex than those of China. There are hundreds of ethnic groups, which shows the complexity of its internal strength.

As for foreigners, I don’t know whether it is the common nature of all ethnic groups or the influence of Chinese culture. Their attitude towards foreigners is also "not my kind, their hearts must be different", and they are always on guard.

"We have to show weakness now, there is no need to do these."

Li Chengliang shook his head, and he couldn't help looking down on Mu Changzuo.

He even forgot what the Ming army should pay attention to most now, and only knew how to show off his courage. With such a person as the general of Yunnan, it is no wonder that the chieftains of Yunnan rebelled in large numbers.

You say that Mu Changzuo is brave and resourceful, but it seems not right.

If it is true, the chieftains of Yunnan should have been defeated by him long ago.

When Mu Changzuo heard what Li Chengliang said, he did not continue to fight for it, but decisively shut up.

In fact, he also knew that this was a war, not a game of playing house.

In a war, the outcome is unpredictable, and there is the possibility of winning and the possibility of losing.

What he said just now was just what he said at the time, and he didn't think about it at all.

After he finished speaking, he regretted it a little.

What kind of ability did he show off.

Fortunately, Li Chengliang did not give him this important task and let him lead the troops to fight.

At this time, Mu Changzuo was secretly glad in his heart, and naturally he would not argue with Li Chengliang anymore.

How could he know that when Li Chengliang was in Liaodong, he showed weakness to the enemy, so as to attract the barbarians to go deep into the city, and his family servants would have the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

He had long been accustomed to it, so when he saw the Burmese army camping and even setting up sentries under Baoshan City, he did not react at all.

At this time, a fast horse had rushed into Hanlong Pass from the direction of Mubang and galloped towards Ruili City.

The knight on the fast horse was naturally sent by the regent minister who stayed in Toungoo City.

A few days ago, when he knew that the Ming army had captured Pegu and was heading north along the Pegu River, and was about to hit Toungoo City, he sent messengers to ask the Burmese king for help, and issued a troop dispatch order to the surrounding Burmese cities, mobilizing troops from the surrounding areas to rescue Toungoo City.

The area around Toungoo City was flat, with no natural barriers to block it, and with the transport capacity of the Pegu River, the Ming army's advance speed was not slow.

Now when Wang Shike led his troops to attack the city, he chose to use heavy artillery to open the city gate directly, and the army rushed in directly.

Even if the Burmese army blocked the gate with mud and sand, the soldiers could just climb over it.

As long as the inland cities of Myanmar have hardly encountered wars in recent decades, their low city walls can block the small number of Tusi troops, but they can't stop the attack of the army of the big country at all.

Yes, in recent years, Myanmar has been attacking others everywhere, who dares to run to Myanmar to scratch the tiger's beard.

Now Toungoo City is in danger, waiting for the Burmese king's army to come back for help, so the messenger is also running forward desperately, finding the Burmese king as quickly as possible, and passing on the message of help from the capital.

Two days later, the Burmese king Mang Yinglong personally led the main force to Baoshan City. Nearly 100,000 people gathered at once, and the morale was immediately boosted.

The Burmese soldiers from top to bottom roared to attack Baoshan City, continue to advance eastward, and fight to Kunming.

Mang Yinglong had spread the news long ago that after occupying Kunming City, he would reward the meritorious soldiers in this battle.

Didn't they come all the way to the Ming Dynasty just for the reward?

However, the ghosts and wolves howling in the Burmese army camp still alarmed the three giants of western Yunnan in the city. They were not clear about the situation. Although they knew that the Burmese king had arrived, they didn't expect the Burmese soldiers to want to attack the city as soon as they saw it.

The last time in Lujiang City, the Burmese soldiers didn't get any advantage, even if they were allowed to plunder for two days.

After all, the good things were moved to their own house by the Xian family, so what good things could be left.

However, Mang Yinglong did not blame the Xian family for this. He still needed the Xian family as an example.

As long as the news of his kindness to the surrendered generals spreads, according to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Ming generals should be impressed by his magnanimity. Although they will not surrender at the sight of him, their resistance should not be so fierce.

"General Xian, tomorrow the army will leave the camp, you will be the front station, and you must perform well in front of the Ming army generals."

Mang Yinglong looked at Xian Gui standing below and gave orders.

At first, when he heard that Mang Yinglong wanted him to fight in the front, Xian Gui was scared.

After all, he surrendered to Myanmar, which was somewhat embarrassing, and he was unwilling to appear in front of the Ming army.

But later, when he heard that Mang Yinglong wanted him to perform well, he more or less guessed what he meant.

In fact, Xian Gui was not stupid. He more or less figured out the reason why Mang Yinglong treated him well. It was because he wanted to establish him as an example and hoped that more Ming generals would follow suit.

He didn't care about it.

It has come to this point, and he can't turn back anyway.

The Burmese army camp was very lively here, while on Baoshan City, Li Chengliang frowned and stared into the distance, obviously not understanding what was going on.

"General."

Mu Changzuo's voice appeared behind him.

Li Chengliang didn't look back, just said "hmm".

"What are you looking at, General?"

Mu Changzuo asked curiously.

He heard that Li Chengliang had climbed the city wall, so he followed to see the situation.

"Look at the Burmese army camp opposite, it's so lively, I don't know why?"

Generally speaking, when the main force arrives, the camp will be lively for a while, but that is in the middle and rear camps, because they have to set up camp, the front camp will not be affected.

But the front, middle and rear camps of the Burmese army are very lively, and the soldiers are like celebrating the New Year. Can you still hear the opposite side shouting incomprehensible words?

"General, that's the Burmese army knowing that the bandits have arrived, and they are cheering."

Mu Changzuo whispered.

"What?"

Li Chengliang came after receiving a report from his personal soldiers that there was something unusual on the opposite side.

The Ming army under Li Chengliang was not completely assured, so each army sent a team of family servants to monitor each unit.

After thinking for a while, Li Chengliang was surprised: "This thief Mang has such a high prestige in the Burmese army?"

The last time Li Chengliang met the Burmese army in Shidian City, but because it was a detachment, without Mang Yinglong, he naturally had not seen this scene.

However, if Mu Changzuo's words were true, then he really re-examined this opponent.

His previous enemies, whether it was the Tuman tribe on the grassland or the Jurchens, did not have such a high-prestige leader.

Perhaps, Altan Khan was treated like this.

"General, you don't know that this thief Mang followed Mang Ruiti in his early years and fought in the south and the north. He experienced countless battles of all sizes and had a high prestige.

In recent years, he has successively annexed Siam, Laos and other countries, and his momentum in the country is unparalleled.

It is not surprising that he arrived at the thief camp and caused such an impact."

Mu Changzuo whispered.

In fact, if it weren't for this, he wouldn't have stayed in Baoshan City and wouldn't have dared to march into Mengmi.

"Add two more teams of divine aircraft to the city wall."

Li Chengliang ordered calmly. (End of this chapter)